Canadian man says he was denied entry, forced to submit DNA sample at U.S. border

CTV London’s Scott Miller looks into claims a Bruce County man was denied entry into the U.S. after giving a DNA sample.

A Canadian man says his DNA is in the hands of the U.S. government after being denied entry at the Canada-U.S. border.

On Oct. 18, 2025, Kincardine, Ont., native Kevin Larson was heading to a No Kings Rally in Port Huron, Mich., when he was pulled over for a “random check” at the U.S. border crossing.

He says what happened next, shocked him.

“They took my picture, they took my fingerprints, and about two and a half hours in, they said, ‘We’re not going to allow you entry. But first, you have to give a DNA sample,’” Larson recalled.

“I said ‘No’ twice,” he said.

“I sat down, and then a supervisor took me to a private room and read me the Riot Act and the law and said I can be charged — and if found guilty, it could be up to one year in prison," he said.

The retired health physicist says knew he wasn’t a criminal and didn’t want to go to jail, so he gave the border officers what they wanted - his DNA.

“I did say yes, because I had heard that if you push back at the border, you can end up with a five-year ban on going into the States. I have a cousin in Georgia that we visit regularly, and I’m not a criminal, so they’re not going to find anything, and I wanted to make sure I could always go across the border,” he said.

“So, I submitted to a DNA check,” he added.

Larson has no criminal background and says he was carrying nothing but a Canadian flag to the No Kings Rally in Port Huron. Three thousand such rallies, opposing many of the legislative changes in the U.S. implemented by the Trump administration, deemed “heavy-handed” and “tyrannical” by protestors.

“At the very end, I talked to the main officers I was dealing with. I said ‘Cut to the chase, what’s the main reason I’m not being allowed admission?’ And he said, ‘It was the purpose of your visit, sir.’ So, they somehow saw a Canadian with his flag as a threat to their country. And I don’t get it. I absolutely don’t get it,” said Larson.

Two U.S. Congress members, Debbie Dingell in Michigan and Jamie Raskin in Maryland, have taken up Larson’s case, asking U.S. lawmakers why he was detained and what the DNA is being used for.

“This kind of hostile and arbitrary treatment at the border could further damage one of our most important bilateral relationships already battered by President Trump’s vilification of the Canadian people and threats to annex their country,” says the letter from Dingell and Raskin, to the U.S. Departments of Justice, State, and Homeland Security.

Larson didn’t get to go to Port Huron’s No Kings Rally, so he’s holding Grey-Bruce’s first No Kings Rally in Owen Sound this Saturday from 1-3 p.m., outside Owen Sound City Hall.

“The purpose of that rally is let people in the States know they have friends. You know, we’re not calling for regime change. We’re just supporting them in their activities, in their actions, and their rallies,” said Larson.

“The second one is we’re standing up for Canada and speaking out against the attacks on Canada, economically and otherwise,” he added. “And, the third reason we’re getting together is to say, ‘We will never be the 51st state.’”

A month after being forced to give up his DNA at the U.S. border, Larson attempted to cross the border again to visit family. This time, successfully.

“They did pull us over. I was there for an hour. They looked at my phone. They reviewed the records, but they did let us go in,” added Larson.